Renegade Craft Fair SF 2011

Renegade Craft Fair @ Fort Mason Center http://www.renegadecraft.com/san-francisco today with Mon and Jason. He took is bum leg out on the town. Lots of cute stuff. Silk screens of animals, mustaches, bikes. Feather jewelry and lots of recycled art. Some of my favorites.


Thief & BANDIT

http://www.thiefandbandit.com/
screen printed fabric jewlery


Stella Neptune

http://www.stellaneptune.com/

Upcycled cashmere sweaters, appliques, and accessories.

Missoula - Home (lots of stops)

Ok, last one guys and its proly gonna be another long one, so sit tight and it you've been reading well much appreciated, if your a picture kinda person well, you know where to go, but read the last paragraph first.

Left Missoula and headed cross Montana, and Idaho to eastern Washington to meet up with an ol' buddy of mine from the three months i worked in Italy in 2004, i must give props to FB for hooking us up.  His place, "Trees Company" was an old Christmas tree farm just outside Spokane, the property was pretty awesome, overgrown x-mas trees, english garden, old barns/sheds, and volleyball court with lighting.  We had a killer dinner of homemade ravioli and a bunch of wine,  we hit the local pub complete with taxidermied wildlife.  It was truly a great time, thanks Nick, for everything, we'll do our best to make it up for the houses 100 yr anniversary.

Next on to Seattle to see baby BLT, Nina Arlein, who put us up for the night, some good reminiscing and basking in her unjaded  by life collegeyness.  Had some damn good sushi, then tmt up with Kates ol' time buddy from SF Elyse and had a few brews.  Seattle, though only there for 1 day, seems pretty cool (a sprawlyer pacific nw san fran kinda, or something), another spot we'd both like to check out again for a longer stay.  Took a ferry out of town an into the Olympic Peninsula, pretty much as far NW as you can get landward and not be in Canada.

Olympic National Park, was epically beautiful, a crazy combination of high mountains, rainforest, and coast.  The peaks were still snow covered so exploring was limited.  We camped in an old growth cedar spruce forest where every surface had a fern growing or moss, near a crystal clear glacial lake.  The next day we spent exploring the coast.  Huge (like 10 wide - 150 ft tall) driftwood trees lined the high tide line, we scampered over the tide pools exploring the array of stuff teeming about, then headed a bit inland to the Hoh Rainforest (one of Kates favorite places on the whole trip).  Ancient huge trees, everything covered in moss, it was all surreal.  Old forests like that definitely have some kind of mystic quality about them.  Camped again, then on to civilization.

Note: Kate would like me to make comment that we did drive through the town of Forks which is the setting of the Twilight saga.  Not much more needs to be said on the matter.

Onto to Portland, more ol' friends (Kate's college and earlier buddies), drinking, eating, late night not remembered eating, and good times.  First off thank you to the whole Portland crew, Justin, Caitlin, Amy, Erik, Sara ect.  Portland was awesome, we really tied one on the first night there,  Kate dancing that she had outdone me, i had  taco at some point in the night that i didnt/dont remember and apparently only commented on as being "fuel".  Two great dinners at Toro Bravo and Pok Pok, saw Mr. Peter Freeman for a minute (more on him later),  stayed out in the country at Amy's parents compound.  It was all really nice, and i think we both felt a little easier about being on the west coast.

These feeling kept going as we stayed with my college friend Mr. Peter Freeman and Ms. Helen (H-dog) Dembinski in Corvallis, OR.  Really good to see you two. Freems is getting his masters in the study of fish money and helen is getting her teach on.  Partied it up obviously, some nice home cookin, hit the books, and got our yoga on which was pretty necessary at this point.

Made a quick stop in Eugene, Kate Alma-mater, GO DUCKS.  Toured campus, had some major hippy food, (kate duped me), Kate got some ducks gear.  Then hoofed it home.

I sit now in our kitchen (kates parents kitchen) finishing up this summary of our trip.  Thank you so much to all the people who put us up, fed us, ect. we really love you all.  A lot can be said for a shower, a home cooked meal and a friendly face, it does the heart good.  We've both made new friends on this trip thanks to one another, and reconnected with old friends too. Thank you too, to our friends and my folks back home, without all you guys i dont know if we could have done this, your confidence and support in us was in our hearts the whole time, easing any doubts or fears, and our love for you isn't going anywhere.  Thank you Olivia for watching our little buddy and yours.  This trip was a special thing for Katie and I, a hard thing to process too (the entirety of it all, the individual moments, those flashes).  America is a truly beautiful country go see it.

So much love,

Jason and Kate

Me and Mr. Nick Pontarolo making some pasta

Out at the Pub, Cheney, WA

Trees Company

Seattle, the place where they throw the fish

Me and Nina Arlien, Seattle

Very Pretty

Elise Katie's High School buddy

At the University of Washington Farm

Worlds Biggest Seed

Taking the Ferry

Deer, Olympic National Park

Waterfall

Glacial Lake, near campsite

campsite, old-growth spruce cedar forest

We finally made it, the ocean

no words

The Pacific coast is quite different than the Atlantic

its rocky

with crazy tide pools

tons of life

back in the interior of the park by a big spruce

moss everywhere, the reception was bad

rainforest hike

Then Portland (me and Caitlyn)

Kate joins a new association

Peron drinking at Torro Bravo
like a pro at dinner (the bar tender came over and said we were the only people in the 2 years she'd been there to ask for one)

Pak Pak (me, kate, justin)

back at the beach for a stint

including the rogue brewery

many taps

then h-dog

and this guy (freems)

shhh

Kate's old place in Eugene

Thats it, Thanks.

Boulder - Missoula (Mountains, Wilderness, and Wildlife)

Another busy leg of the trip, filled with visits to good friends, and as said lots of mountains, wilderness, wildlife, snow, and brew pubs.  We finished up in boulder but not before some more delicious home brew, some car maintenance (a big thank you to the Boulder, Co Jiffy Lube Crew), a "quick" hike in the flatirons, and some tear filled goodbyes to Steve and Aimee, thanks guys hope to see you in SF.  From there we kept our trajectory north to Rocky Mountain National Park for the afternoon.  They just don't make mountains out east like this, sharp, jagged, steep and high, i think we finally broke the 10,000 ft mark.  Not to mention the prolly 3 feet of snow left, but we persevered. We did a few short hikes in the park including a hike to an alpine lake (frozen) and a waterfall (covered in snow), but the reward was not the destination but the adventure itself (at least tell Kate that if it comes up).

Then on to Fort Collins home of New Belgium brewery and  less importantly my ol' college roomy Mr. Jeremy Cantor (I kid of coarse, Jeremy, it was great to see you).  The tour was fun, and Kate and i will both be looking for jobs at the brewery shortly, though i think the 5-6 tiny glasses of beer may have skewed perspectives.  After the brewery we kept the classy beers going about town with Mr. Cantor and promptly passed out after a heated ping-pong match.  The next destination, the unknown of Wyoming.

Wyoming, is big, very big, it is also cold, and most likely snowing, there will be mountains, and also high winds which will produce noises around your car you've no heard on your trip us far.  This statement may contain hyperbole and is not approved by the Wyoming Dept. of Commerce.  It did snow on our drive to Jackson though.  Jackson, WY was pretty awesome, a true historic frontier town which beside the tourism and world class skiing sticks to that.  It is also beautiful and surrounded by federally protected parks/forests/wildlife refuges.  On the way to Grand Teton National Park you pass by the National Elk Refuge, one the major habitat for migratory elk.  There were hundreds-thousands of these guys.  Smartly Kate and I invested in the 2nd cheapest pair of binoculars so we were in business.  The Park (Teton) was amazing.  The mountains just rise out of the snake river valley and pierce the sky.  Their peaks are rocky craggy masses and the slopes teem with avalanche slides.  The snow pack was really deep so we were limited to mostly enjoying the park from our cars, but there was a bunch of wildlife (birds, elk, moose? (we were pretty far), coyote/wolf), the snake river, and the peaks to enjoy.  Just driving and seeing the mountains from all these different angles and times of day was  awesome.  But we weren't done quite yet.

Yellowstone.  There is a reason this was the first National Park, and you have to see it.  Again we were slightly limited due to the ridiculous snow pack so there was no backcountry hiking for us, the but park is huge, full of wildlife, and wild geothermal features which were readily accessible.  Our first day was spent in the old faithful geyser basin area, and midway geyser basin area, basically walking around the different geysers, springs, pots, pools, ect.  These features have a myriad of differing characteristics based on water flow, temp, chemistry, landscape, ect.   It was truly wild, the entire landscape around you is active, steam billowing out all around.  The colors which come from the precipitated minerals and different microbes are stunning.  Our worries about seeing buffalo were also quickly fixed, they are everywhere, other wildlife seen the first day includes various birds, a marmot, geyser mouse, and weird prairie dog ground squirrel guys.  We ate dinner in the old timeie Old Faithful Inn ( i go the buffet...so much prime rib).  Our little cabin was right by old faithful.  Day two, was spent driving the park, seeing more geothermal features, and the grand canyon of Yellowstone  Upper and Lower Falls.  The falls and canyon are stunning and like much of the park an array of colors, from ages old geothermal activity.  More buffalo, as well as wolves, herons, a pelican, and some kinda crazy stork, which driving by at about 40, all i could muster to shout was "Ostrich" before slamming the brakes.  This is getting long so ill wrap it up...the park was amazing and i feel we only saw the tip of the iceberg.  From there it was upward and onward, Montana, one night in Missoula, then on to Washington.

Kate, has decided to marry a buffalo.

Custom hand crafted magic wands (starting at $300)

Dino in Rocky Mtn. National Park

Jason at Rocky Mtn. National Park

Kate at Rocky Mtn. National Park (lots of snow/alpine lake)

Lots of Snow

Dino at snow covered waterfall (he hiked pretty far for this view)

so did we

So we had to drink (New Belgium Brewery, Fort Collins

New Belgium Advertising. All of their print ads are photographs of mini -dioramas that were on display in the brewery.

Winter Beer Delivery System

Meeting up with old friends (Mr. Jeremy Cantor)

Intense Ping-Pong action

And... its snowing in Wyoming

So were drinking some more (Snake River Brewery, Jackson, WY)

National Elk Refuge, 1,000s of elk migrate here, we saw all of them

Dino and Mexican Cat enjoying the scenery of Grand Teton National Park

There was a lot of snow

and it was pretty dramatic

lots of photo op's

Overhead snow bank

Katie, with string lake and south teton

The Teton's really took it out of us, sleep and goldfish were required

Driving into Yellowstone

Old Faithful, sizz

There were a tremendous number of thermal features, bubbling, burbling, sputtering, spurting, ect.  also a strong smell of sulfur

and buffalo, lots of buffalo

Doublet pool, was nice

Dino enjoyed giant geyser

Kate's friend the rare geyser chipmunk

Kate at morning glory pool

Old faithful in action, just to note this was about 100 feet from our cabin, and goes off every 90 min.

Bacteria, protozoa, algae, and other microbes make the colors based on  water temp and chemistry

A bubbling mud pit (fountain paint pots)

More geyser action

baby buffalo

generally pretty dramatic

and cozy

old faithful inn

Old faithful Inn fireplace

geyser runoff and microbes

Kate with puff n' stuff geyser

the runoff patterns were pretty wild

and colorful

308' Lower Falls (higher than Niagara)

Lower falls canyon

Our buddy

St. Louis's finest

bacterial mats

pretty crazy structure, calcified pine branch

Monmouth Hot Springs Travertine terrace

The northern entrance or for us exit, was a pretty wild visit.